If I were a prospective buyer looking at this townhouse in Rosemont, I’m not sure whether I’d be more terrified by the creepy decor, or the outrageously-inflated asking price.

According to the Huffington Post Quebec, the property called “the most terrifying house in Montreal,” sold recently for $400,000, more than 40 per cent below the $715,000 asking price. It spent more than a year on the market.

The home is expected to need $200,000 worth of renovations.

Home in Montreal’s Rosemont/Petite-Patrie neighbourhood finally sells for more than 40 per cent below asking price.

It’s the latest example of what I call homes being “priced to sit.” Sellers are still pricing their homes to the hot market of 2011, when record-low interest rates drove sales, along with new home construction in Greater Montreal, to the highest level since 2004. But Montreal’s real estate market is now balanced – with buyers having the upper hand when it comes to condos.

This week, New York-based Fitch Ratings ranked Quebec slightly ahead of British Columbia as the province with the most overvalued housing market in the country. While Montreal homes are sold for seemingly “bargain-basement” prices compared to Vancouver (home of the million-dollar “crackshack”), economic growth is weaker in Quebec than in the rest of Canada, Fitch notes.

I can only wonder what the seller was thinking in listing the home for $715,000? As someone who follows real estate the price gives me the shivers. Now imagine, a real buyer.

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